First of all, it's nice to be back! Since COVID hit I have not been lurking as often as I typically would have. Kelly, on the other hand, has been living vicariously through your trip reports as a way to fill the gap until we are able to visit Disney again. I hope all of you have been keeping well and that your families are safe, healthy, and vaccinated!
It's been a very long 18 months north of the border and while we've been having a pretty fantastic summer weather-wise, we've been itching to get back on a plane and experience a little more normalcy in our lives. Kelly and I have often fantasized about when we would return, what it would be like, could we handle the restrictions, etc. We ended up getting into a pretty in-depth conversation the other day while watching Behind the Attraction on Disney+. One thing led to another and we were pricing out a quick getaway to Disneyland just as a goof.
The more we planned this fake trip, the more we really wanted to try and make it work. Our kids' passports are being renewed as we speak as we have nothing planned until November so the big discussion right off the bat was whether Kelly would be ok leaving the kids. I have no issue with that but it's not as easy for her to let go. To my surprise, she was on board and this fake trip started to get a little more real.
We spoke with our travel agent to get her opinion on what we should do and to ask a bunch of questions about the requirements to travel. That conversation led to us deciding to pull the trigger and make this trip a reality! That said, I am quite happy to be back writing another pre-trip report after what feels like an eternity!
WHO: The first time crossing the border in a COVID world will be just me and Kelly. The girls seem pretty bummed that we're leaving them to go to Disney but we've promised to bring them back a lot of stuff. That seems to be easing the blow a little. Plus, it will be a very much-needed break for just the two of us.
WHEN: This trip is coming up very quickly! We have two weeks to prepare. We will be making our first return visit to Disneyland since the 60th anniversary celebration in 2015. We will be in Anaheim from August 26 returning home on August 30.
We plan to leave Edmonton first thing in the morning on the 26th, arriving in LA around 130 pm after a short layover in Vancouver. We will take a direct shuttle to our hotel and hopefully get into one of the parks by about 300pm.
WHERE: We've booked our stay at the Fairfield Inn, just outside the main gates. The hotel looks nice enough for the time we will spend there and the location is pretty solid! Can't beat a quick walk to and from the parks.
THE PLAN: This will be constantly evolving because we're doing this so last minute but it should add to the excitement of the trip. The first day will be a half-day in one of the parks, not sure which yet, followed by three full days with hopper passes. Currently, we are waiting on our Disney ticket confirmation code in order to link the passes to our Disneyland app and make our park reservations for each day.
We're also aware that booking restaurant reservations are that much trickier for some of the places we want to eat but we've already found some success in securing at least one reservation using the help of mousedining.com to alert us on openings.
At this point in time, we do have the Blue Bayou booked for a farewell dinner later in the evening on August 29th. It's been a long time since we've been there and it's definitely one of our favourites during any DL visit.
The other places we have added alerts for include: Oga's Cantina, Lamplight Lounge and Cafe Orleans. I'd love to find a way to sneak a visit to Trader Sam's while we are there as well but much of this trip will be go with the flow so we'll see what comes of it.
Aside from that, we're now going through all the hoops to get COVID tests book before we depart and finalize the rest of our travel plans. I have no doubt that we will be updating this report over the next two weeks before we take off and we're very excited to be sharing a Disney trip with the group again!
If you have any tips, or must-do's, or anything that might make our quick visit that much more special, please feel free to share with us!
Thank you for following along!
It's been a very long 18 months north of the border and while we've been having a pretty fantastic summer weather-wise, we've been itching to get back on a plane and experience a little more normalcy in our lives. Kelly and I have often fantasized about when we would return, what it would be like, could we handle the restrictions, etc. We ended up getting into a pretty in-depth conversation the other day while watching Behind the Attraction on Disney+. One thing led to another and we were pricing out a quick getaway to Disneyland just as a goof.
The more we planned this fake trip, the more we really wanted to try and make it work. Our kids' passports are being renewed as we speak as we have nothing planned until November so the big discussion right off the bat was whether Kelly would be ok leaving the kids. I have no issue with that but it's not as easy for her to let go. To my surprise, she was on board and this fake trip started to get a little more real.
We spoke with our travel agent to get her opinion on what we should do and to ask a bunch of questions about the requirements to travel. That conversation led to us deciding to pull the trigger and make this trip a reality! That said, I am quite happy to be back writing another pre-trip report after what feels like an eternity!
WHO: The first time crossing the border in a COVID world will be just me and Kelly. The girls seem pretty bummed that we're leaving them to go to Disney but we've promised to bring them back a lot of stuff. That seems to be easing the blow a little. Plus, it will be a very much-needed break for just the two of us.
WHEN: This trip is coming up very quickly! We have two weeks to prepare. We will be making our first return visit to Disneyland since the 60th anniversary celebration in 2015. We will be in Anaheim from August 26 returning home on August 30.
We plan to leave Edmonton first thing in the morning on the 26th, arriving in LA around 130 pm after a short layover in Vancouver. We will take a direct shuttle to our hotel and hopefully get into one of the parks by about 300pm.
WHERE: We've booked our stay at the Fairfield Inn, just outside the main gates. The hotel looks nice enough for the time we will spend there and the location is pretty solid! Can't beat a quick walk to and from the parks.
THE PLAN: This will be constantly evolving because we're doing this so last minute but it should add to the excitement of the trip. The first day will be a half-day in one of the parks, not sure which yet, followed by three full days with hopper passes. Currently, we are waiting on our Disney ticket confirmation code in order to link the passes to our Disneyland app and make our park reservations for each day.
We're also aware that booking restaurant reservations are that much trickier for some of the places we want to eat but we've already found some success in securing at least one reservation using the help of mousedining.com to alert us on openings.
At this point in time, we do have the Blue Bayou booked for a farewell dinner later in the evening on August 29th. It's been a long time since we've been there and it's definitely one of our favourites during any DL visit.
The other places we have added alerts for include: Oga's Cantina, Lamplight Lounge and Cafe Orleans. I'd love to find a way to sneak a visit to Trader Sam's while we are there as well but much of this trip will be go with the flow so we'll see what comes of it.
Aside from that, we're now going through all the hoops to get COVID tests book before we depart and finalize the rest of our travel plans. I have no doubt that we will be updating this report over the next two weeks before we take off and we're very excited to be sharing a Disney trip with the group again!
If you have any tips, or must-do's, or anything that might make our quick visit that much more special, please feel free to share with us!
Thank you for following along!
